Access Granted: Canadian Centre for Men and Families Update #1

The Canadian Association for Equality will be providing a series of ongoing updates as we document the process of establishing the Canadian Centre for Men and Families, Toronto’s first “Men’s Centre”

July 23, 2014

Access granted. On July 22 we gained keys to our new home. This is a milestone that serves as a turning point in our campaign to establish Toronto’s first “Men’s Centre.”

Let’s put this into perspective. On June 12, 2013 Professor Lionel Tiger was the keynote speaker at our campaign kick-off event to raise $50,000 for the Canadian Centre for Men and Families. That launched Phase 1. We spent the rest of 2013 building a vision that could unite our community and then fundraising so we could afford to bring that vision to life. As 2013 came to a close so did Phase 1 as we had succeeded in raising the needed funds.

Phase 2 consisted of our consultations with community leaders and representatives from a broad array of organizations whose mandates connected with ours. The result was the release of our “Canadian Centre for Men and Families Action Plan” which provided a general roadmap to assist in the search, setup and operations of our Centre. This led on directly to Phase 3, “The Search.” We scoured the city for suitable premises, considering a variety of neighborhoods and internal layouts, until we settled on what we truly believe will serve as an ideal space for the first dedicated “Men’s Centre” in Toronto and an institution with few precedents across Canada.

Some hard work lies ahead as we put out calls now for the donation of furniture and equipment, and as we begin to organize a team of volunteers to manage and administer this space. But this is also a period of excitement without equal. The best has yet to come.

CAFE volunteers on the road in search of our new home: May – June 2014